"European legal traditions can be characterised as a continuous balancing act of two seemingly contradictory forces: centralisation and de-centralisation. On the one hand, Justinian’s Corpus iuris, the medieval ius commune of Roman and Canon law, the usus modernus pandectarum, and the current European harmonisation efforts all have a centralizing or rather an integrative quality about them. While the ius proprium, including the English Common law, and particularly the national codifications of the 19th century, as well as the study of these laws, exhibit more diverse, decentralizing forces within European legal traditions.

This volume shows how comparative legal history can be used as a tool to analyse similarities and differences between legal systems. It aims to provide a deeper understanding of common strands in law shared by European countries, in particular those (i) at a substantive level, through shared legal ideas and principles such as clausula rebus sic stantibus, unjustified enrichment, cessio bonorum, subsidiarity or popular sovereignty; (ii) at a formal level, through a common legal language; and created (iii) by scholarly networks and (iv) appellate courts.

Above all, these contributions – though eclectic in their subject matter, time period and methodology – all reflect from a historical perspective on the fascinating, diverse European legal traditions."

The recently created Association Française des Jeunes Historiens du Droit (AFJHD) announces its first colloquium in Paris (6-7 June 2013), on the theme "The Pillars of Civil Law: Family, Property, Contract". A hot topic, in view of the ongoing parliamentary debates in France.

The programme (French-speaking interventions) can be found on the Association's website.

27 January 2013

What: Jornades sobre les Comissions de Treball de les Institucions Parlamentàries i Representatives (segles XV – XX), (organized by Grup d’Estudi de les Institucions i de la Societat a la Catalunya Moderna (segles XVI-XIX) and International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions).

What: Journées internationales de Besançon: "L’interprétation du droit" (organized by: Société d'Histoire du Droit)Where: Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon,Faculté des Lettres, 30 rue MégevandWhen: 30 May - 2 June 2013 Call for papers: In order to assure cohesion between the papers that will be published afterwards, the speakers are invited to choose one of the following topics:1) The history of the interpretation of law2) The interpretation of legal sources for the legal historian All lectures have to be delivered in FRENCH (max. 30 minutes) Deadline for registration: 28 February 2013Contact:Université de Franche-ComtéFaculté de droit – CRJFCM. Laurent Kondratuk45 rue de l’Observatoire25000 Besançon

What: International Symposium on Comparative Sciences (Bulgarian Comparative Education Society). First Call for abstracts, full papers, and roundtables

Where: Sofia, Bulgaria

When: 8-11 October 2013

An International Symposium on Comparative Sciences will be organized by the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society and held in Sofia, Bulgaria, 8 - 11 October 2013. This will be a forum where different comparative sciences can meet and discuss problems of common interest.

24 January 2013

PIMIC‐ITN: Power and Institutions in Medieval Islam and Christendom, an integrated training network in research and diffusion for comparative history, is offering 10 PhD Fellowships

(each worth c. 50,000 Euros per annum for three years)

Deadline 24 March 2013

“Power and Institutions in Medieval Islam and Christendom” is a research project which will develop from 2013 to 2016. It has been funded as a ‘Marie Curie Initial Training Network’ with a grant of 3.3 million euros. The project combines academic research on medieval power and institutions with training in the wider dissemination of research‐based knowledge, based on a formal network established between universities and private sector companies and funded by the European Union. It provides funding for 10 PhDs at universities in Spain, Britain, Italy,France, and Israel, and two postdoctoral positions, one based at a Dutch publisher (Brill), one at a Spanish TV/film company (Lopez‐Li). During their studies, the PhD students will all have secondments to the publisher and the film company, the post‐docs will come to the Universities to run sessions on print and media diffusion of research. Further training workshops are provided, on academic and other skills, as well as a larger‐scale ‘MediaSchool for Historians’. The project concludes with a conference on ‘Consequences in the Contemporary World.’PIMIC Academic PartnersCCHS‐CSIC (Coordinator): Dr. Ana Rodríguez University of St. Andrews: Dr. John Hudson Universitá Roma Tre: Dr. Emanuele Conte Birkbeck College London: Dr. Caroline Humfress Universitá Roma Tor Vergata: Dr. Sandro CarocciUniversity of Tel Aviv: Dr. Gadi Algazi Université Paris I‐Panthéon‐Sorbonne: Dr. Michel Kaplan School of Oriental and African Studies: Dr. Hugh KennedyPIMIC Private Sector PartnersLopez‐Li Films (Spain) Brill Publishers (Netherlands) .

23 January 2013

A team under the leadership of Professor Anders Winroth is working on new editions of the two recensions of Gratian's Decretum with support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Yale University, and the Stephan Kuttner Institute of Medieval Canon Law, and with the assistance from the Yale University Office of Digital Assets and Infrastructure. The new editions aim to replace Emil Friedbergs 1879editionof the second recension through a fresh collation of the most important manuscripts and a reconsideration of Gratian's sources (both material and formal). The finished edition will be published in the series Monumenta iuris canonici, published by the Kuttner Institute and the Vatican Library. An English translation is also planned.

The purpose ofthis website is to make the most important working materials of the editorial team available to other scholars already before the edition is published. Users of the site should remember that these are working materials, not the finished edition, and they should use it accordingly.All information and working materials here.

If the interest in constitutional history plays an important role in France, the debate about its methodologies seems to be late with reference to other European legal cultures. This books aims at analyzing the issue of the methodology applied in constitutional history studies, comparing the experiences of several researchers (with different backgrounds) rather than identifying a "good methodology".

22 January 2013

I'm very pleased to note the publication of Eoin Carolin (ed), The Constitution of Ireland: Perspectives and Prospects (2012). Itbrings together a range of Irish and international commentators to examine some of the most significant current issues in Irish constitutional law.

Based on a selection of the papers originally presented at a conference to mark the 75th anniversary of the enactment of the current Constitution of Ireland, the collection touches on many of the challenges facing Ireland today. These include: the possibilities for political and constitutional reform; the state of Ireland’s democratic structures; national sovereignty in an era of international organisations; the role and conduct of referenda; questions of national identity and values; the meaning of modern Irish republicanism; and the place of religion in Irish society and government. The contributors describe how the Constitution has influenced developments in Ireland since 1937 and consider how it might continue to do so in the future. At a time when Ireland’s political and constitutional structures are under review, The Constitution of Ireland: Perspectives and Prospects provides expert insight into these important questions.

The contents include:

Introduction: The Hon Mrs Justice Susan Denham, Chief Justice - Some thoughts on the Constitution of Ireland at 75;

Part I Constitutional Values:

Philip Pettit - The Republican Constitution;

Mark Tushnet - National Identity as a Constitutional Issue: The Case of the Preamble to the Irish Constitution of 1937;

20 January 2013

This book collects 18 papers, for the most part written during the last four years, on the relationship between Law and Literature. It is the expression of the author's long lasting interest in the application of literature or, in general, of the humanities, to legal education.

17 January 2013

we are proud to announce that our Facebook page is increasing its contacts: thank you! The past week has been the most successful since the creation of our Facebook page: we have almost reached 100 "I like". If you have a Facebook account, go to our Facebook page and click on "I like" and "Get notifications" in order to stay updated with all the news of the ESCLH blog and to easily share them with your friends and colleagues.

You can suggest information and comments on news related to comparative legal history both on Facebook and via our email address: esclhblog@gmail.com. Here are our latest achievements:

16 January 2013

The book by Guy Geltner, The Medieval Prison: A Social History, first published in 2008, has been defined as "A most welcome addition to what has been a neglected field of medieval legal and
social history. Geltner argues very persuasively that imprisonment was an
important phenomenon in medieval Italian cities. The Medieval Prison
should appeal to a fairly broad audience outside the field of medieval history" - James B. Given, author of Inquisition and Medieval Society

The Italian translation of this work has been recently published by Viella:

13 January 2013

CIAN-Journal of the History of Universities, founded in 1998, publishes articles on the history
of universities as well as current topics and debates about Universities. Two
digital issues are published each year. The June issue contains the Studies section and December consists of
a thematic Dossier. Book reviews are
published in both issues in the Bibliography
section. A printed edition containing the contents of both digital issues is
published in late December.

CIAN-Journal of the History of the University is accepting submissions for issue number 16 which
will be edited at the end of 2013. Those interested in sending articles,
reviews or proposals for dossiers may submit their work in Spanish or in
English. Articles should be no longer than 10,000 words; dossier introductions
cannot exceed 4,000 words. Reviews are limited to 3,000 words. Submitted
materials will be evaluated on an anonymous basis.

It is preferable that authors register and then submit their text online
via the website: www.uc3m.es/cian. It is also possible to send articles to:
cuadernos.nebrija@gmail.com

The text should be in MS Word (or RTF, OpenOffice, WordPerfect ....).
Authors should include a summary in English, the English translation of the
title, five keywords in both languages and a brief biographical note (no longer
than 100 words) about the author.

If the text includes illustrations, figures or tables, they should go in
their proper place and not at the end of the document. It is also advisable to
send a high-resolution copy of these graphics as jpeg attachments to the email
address listed above or by following the appropriate steps in the website:
www.uc3m.es/cian

The text and should be formatted according to the standards of the
Chicago style. Please consult our page: www.uc3m.es/cian for more information.

On January 21st 2013 the "Lundi du CRH" will be devoted to the analysis of Simona Cerutti's recently published Etrangers. Etude d'une condition d'incertitude dans une société d'Ancien Régime, which focuses on the inadequacy of the traditional cathegories used to understand the usage of the term "foreigner" in the modern period.

This book collects some of the results of the PRIN project financed by the Italian Ministry for University and Research and developed by the Universities of RomaTre, Bari "Aldo Moro", Naples "Federico II" and the University of Salento, in collaboration with the Fondazione Centro di Iniziativa Giuridica Piero Calamandrei on the topic "The wounds of history and the restorative law: a historical-comparative investigation" (Le ferite della storia e il diritto riparatore: un’indagine storico-comparatistica). Historical events produce long lasting wounds to persons and their identities as well as to places. Today, an increasing interest in reconstructing history, re-elaborating it also from the point of view of the victims, in order to preserve the memory of some events, is evident. In this framework, law is already playing a (potentially increasable) important role, not only because it is felt as the source of justice, but also because it provides the tools for a moral as well as a material restoration aimed to heal the wounds of the past and to avoid - as far as possible - the repetition of similar events...

Within the framework of the Master Cultures et Sociétés: Histoire - Anthropologie - Archéologie of the Université de Pau et de Pays de l'Adour, a conference dedicated to Gaston III earl of Foix and focused on his manuscripts will take place on Friday, the 1st of February 2013.

For more information about the project directed by Véronique Lamazou-Duplan (Maître de Conférences in medieval history) please click here.

The American Society for Legal History, founded in 1956, "is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to fostering scholarship, teaching, and study concerning the law and institutions of all legal systems, both Anglo-American and those that do not operate in the Anglo-American tradition". It offers every year a wide range of awards, prizes and fellowships.

The journal is published, both online
and in print, twice a year, appearing in the spring and the autumn. The first issue will appear in Spring
2013:

Articles will explore both 'internal' legal
history (doctrinal and disciplinary developments in the law) and 'external'
legal history (legal ideas and institutions in wider contexts). Rooted in the
complexity of the various Western legal traditions worldwide, the journal will
also investigate other laws and customs from around the globe. Comparisons may
be either temporal or geographical and both legal and other law-like normative
traditions will be considered. Scholarship on comparative and trans-national
historiography, including trans-disciplinary approaches, is particularly
welcome.

The Editors welcome scholarly submissions in
the English language:

To submit an article please contact Articles
Editor Heikki Pihlajamäki (heikki.pihlajamaki@helsinki.fi).The optimal length for articles is between 7500 to 15000 words, including
footnotes. All articles are submitted to double blind peer
review.

To propose a review, please contact Reviews
Editor Agustin Parise (agustin.parise@maastrichtuniversity.nl).
Book reviews will generally range from 1500 to 2500 words. Review articles will
also be considered.

Note that a special arrangement between the
ESCLH and Hart has been made to ensure that ESCLH
membership fees include a subscription to CLH.

Potential contributors should pay special
attention to the ‘Notes
for Contributors’ on the website. In particular,
contributors whose first language is not English are strongly advised to
have their papers edited by native Anglophone scholars in advance of
their submission to ensure a clear presentation of their ideas and an accurate
appraisal of their work.